Word of the Day

Friday, September 07, 2001

milksop

\MILK-sop\ , noun;

An effeminate or weak-minded person; an unmanly man.

Quotes:

But though intelligent and 'good tempered', he was also something of a milksop, unlike his younger brothers who were 'full of courage'.

-- Saul David, Prince of Pleasure

And what a milksop I'll be thought and what a tyrant you'll be thought and how you'll be dreaded accordingly.

-- John Butler Yeats, quoted in W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. 1 by R. F. Foster

Origin:

Milksop comes from Middle English, literally a piece of bread sopped in milk.